What the duck? Town of Duck Lake plans to sell its naming rights

The town of Duck Lake is wading into new waters by doing something the mayor and local council say has never been done before: inviting corporations to bid on its full, municipal naming rights.

The invitation doesn’t come cheap; in a statement issued Wednesday on its website, Mayor Jason Anderson said it’s not about naming rights to a rink or something else; it’s the entire town. He said he got the idea to do it about a year ago when he was running for mayor.

Read more:

“I read an article about a sports complex… and I was looking for ways to generate a little bit of extra funds here in town, and I thought, ‘well, we could name our community hall, and we could do naming rights for our rink,” he said.

But then he came up with the idea of selling the town’s naming rights. The council vote was a close 3-2 in favour of the plan.

The minimum bid would have to be $10 million.

“Is that enough for the repairs though? That’s really hard to say. It depends on what someone’s actually willing so it depends on exactly what company would be interested in coming here to actually partner with us,” he said.

Located about an hour northeast of Saskatoon, along Highway 11, the area has important Métis historical ties. The Battle of Duck Lake in 1885 was the first battle of the North-West Rebellion/Resistance, and it’s something Anderson said is important to recognize.

“Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of history in this place. We are on Treaty 6 territory, we’re the home of the Métis – we truly are home of the Métis – this is where the first shot was fired to begin the 1885 Riel Rebellion. So it would be important that we would partner with someone that can definitely respect that,” he explained.

Duck Lake was then incorporated as a village in 1894 and became a town in 1911. Saskatchewan artist Glen Scrimshaw also called the area home after a community invitation to move there and open a gallery.

Calling it a “once in a generation initiative,” Anderson said if there were one or more offers, the council would engage the community in a referendum.

“You can’t ask five people to make this kind of a decision. This is huge,” he said.

The town is accepting offers or tenders until March 1, 2026. The next public meeting after that would be at the beginning of April. If there are any offers, council will “open them up” at that time, so the community can see them at the same time.

Anderson said the town is ready to reinvent itself, and money for the naming rights will go towards revitalizing housing and business incentives, community infrastructure and economic development.

At this point, he said it’s a conversation, and if there is any offer, there would be Indigenous and Métis consultations, and talks with the provincial government.

While it doesn’t appear as though the naming rights to a Canadian town have been up for sale in Canada, it’s not unheard of in the U.S., with prices—land included—going for as low as $100,000 for Swett, Michigan, all the way up to $11 million for the historic town of Gallop, New Mexico, as of 2023.

The town of Craik had sold plots of unserviced land for one dollar to encourage the development of an eco-village in 2019. These sales were intended for creating housing or public facilities, and usually come with conditions for development.

Any corporations or brands interested in buying the naming rights to Duck Lake are asked to contact the town office.